


Things that robots can (apparently) do on BtVS

by thenewbuzwuzz_nonfic (thenewbuzwuzz)



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Gen, Meta, Nonfiction, Robots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-05
Updated: 2018-08-05
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:54:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22977232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thenewbuzwuzz/pseuds/thenewbuzwuzz_nonfic
Summary: Not Fic. An itemized venting post in increasing order of how much canon drove me up a wall when I originally wrote this; and a couple of followup thoughts about Buffy's attitude towards the Buffybot and April.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 8
Collections: March Meta Matters Challenge





	Things that robots can (apparently) do on BtVS

**Author's Note:**

> Crossposted in March 2020; originally posted [on tumblr](https://sunnydale-digest.tumblr.com/post/176667290844/things-that-robots-can-apparently-do-on-btvs#permalink-notes) in 2018.
> 
> Like all of my meta-ish posts, this was deliberately written in a casual, conversational tone. I've kept the wording mostly the same, though I have reformatted the quotations and added some notes about what other people said.

Things that robots can apparently do on BtVS: a venting post in increasing order of how much canon drives me up a wall.

10\. The Buffybot may have **feelings** for Spike independent of her programming. I like it. Also, there’s plausible deniability – maybe Willow missed something.

"BUFFYBOT: Sorry I questioned you, Spike. (Spike looks surprised) You know I admire your brain almost as much as your washboard abs. (big smile)  
Spike looks pained.  
SPIKE: (quietly to Willow) I told you to make her stop doing that.  
WILLOW: I did. I mean, I thought I got all that stuff out of the program." ([Bargaining, Part 1](https://web.archive.org/web/20190725142718/www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/101_tran.html))

9\. **Movement** : the Buffybot fights more or less like Buffy, and Ted is good at minigolf. Okay. That’s very advanced, but that’s why this is fiction.

8\. Ted has incredible **language** processing skills, such as detecting humor and situational usage and using connotations to manipulate his clients, but that’s okay, that’s just futuristic.

7\. They all *seem* to have **emotions**. Some of it must be simulation, but I have a hard time reading canon otherwise than _Ted is angry_ or _April is sad_.

6\. It is strongly implied April feels **pain** or something like it, which, as far as I understand, would mean she’s what the kids call a sentient being. There’s someone in there who can have subjective experiences.

"WARREN: Well, I made it so that if she heard me and she didn't answer, it causes this kind of feedback.  
BUFFY: Wait, if you call her and she doesn't answer, it hurts her? (he looks embarrassed) You're one creepy little dweeb, Warren." ([I Was Made to Love You](https://web.archive.org/web/20180814171705/http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/093_tran.html))

5\. The Buffybot repeatedly differentiates between herself and the other Buffy, so I think this means she has a sense of **self**. Yikes. Is it in question at all that she’s a conscious being? How do you deal with her?

4\. April and Ted seem to have **morals**.

"APRIL: (still holding Spike over her head) That would be wrong. You are not my boyfriend!" ([I Was Made to Love You](https://web.archive.org/web/20180814171705/http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/093_tran.html))

"Ted: I think you're missing the point here, little lady. Right is right, wrong is wrong. Why don't people see that?" ([Ted](https://web.archive.org/web/20180814154951/http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/023_tran.html))

3\. April and Ted seem to have a sense of **humor**. They can find concepts and situations funny even when they’re not expected to react to a deliberate joke.

"WARREN: (stammers) April, I made a mistake.  
APRIL: (laughs) You can't make mistakes." ([I Was Made to Love You](https://web.archive.org/web/20180814171705/http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/093_tran.html))

"Ted: You see, I had to shut down for a while to get you off my back. You should've seen the intern's face when I got up off the table, it was a hoot! Fun's over, though." ([Ted](https://web.archive.org/web/20180814154951/http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/023_tran.html))

2\. April seems to have an emotional need for **purpose**. D:

"APRIL: I'm only supposed to love him. If I can't do that, what am I for? What do I exist for?" ([I Was Made to Love You](https://web.archive.org/web/20180814171705/http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/093_tran.html))

1\. Warren seems to think April has **free will**? Why else would he *motivate* her to answer when he calls, instead of just programming her to answer? _w h y_

\---

[My tags said the equivalent of this: _It's probably only difficult because I'm trying to go against my first instinct—which is to read them all as people who happen to be made of artificial materials. I tried to remind myself that they're mechanisms with some software, but oh boy, did canon not cooperate._

In the ensuing discussion, it appears sandy_s_d must have pointed out that the Buffyverse robots are more similar to Star Trek robots than to Asimov's robots (and yep, Asimov's robots were my main point of reference). dreamsofghostsandstars said a number of cool things about how the Buffybot is definitely a person, the Scoobies just don't see her that way, and how the Scoobies' possible reasons for not seeing her that way are all morally iffy.

Below is my reblog addition onto what dreamsofghostsandstars said.]

\---

I think Buffy’s chief (morally iffy) reason is that she can’t see the Bot separately from what Spike did with the Bot.

"Buffy: The robot is gone. The robot was gross and obscene.... That... thing, it... it wasn't even real. What you did, for me, and Dawn... that was real." ([Intervention](http://web.archive.org/web/20180813041402/http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/096_tran.html))

I think she’s talking about actions every step of the way. What Spike DID was gross, obscene, and not real, according to Buffy. But, because those actions gross her out just that much, she wants the robot gone.

Also, I think the Scoobies see the Buffybot differently from April because the Buffybot is Buffy’s double. It’s like there can only be one real Buffy, maybe like the way people sometimes think about fictional clones – that if you made a copy of a person, it would be something other or less than a person? (Idk how that is supposed to work, never made sense to me.)

But yeah. For whatever reasons, Buffy called April “her” and tried to spare April’s feelings and give her some hope in her final moments. She saw April’s story as very “human”. She identified.

"Buffy: And she wasn't crazed.... She devoted everything to making this one person happy. And then it was like, with him gone, there was just... no reason for her to exist any more.  
Xander: Robots are the strangest people.  
Buffy: No... people are the strangest people. I mean, look at me obsessing about being with someone...." ([I Was Made to Love You](https://web.archive.org/web/20180814171705/http://www.buffyworld.com/buffy/transcripts/093_tran.html))

She didn’t try to keep April “alive” after April had attacked her, but April had pretty much said she saw no reason to keep “living”. I almost feel like Buffy thought about April as something on the level of a dog: you should treat them well, and it’s sad if one dies, but if they are a threat to people, sometimes you’ve got to put them to sleep for good.

And Buffy calls the Buffybot “it” and a thing. The reasons have got to be subjective and emotional – there’s no way Buffy thinks the Buffybot is less advanced than April, is there? It’s a little tricky because Buffy didn’t see some Buffybot scenes that we did.

**Author's Note:**

> Shoutout to shadowkat67 for a very neat essay [Exploring Robot Metaphors in Buffy the Vampire Slayer](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22368379/chapters/53439943) that I enjoyed last month. Similar topic, completely different angle, and considerably more thorough than this. :D


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